| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold with Jonathan Custodio | Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration undercounted nursing home deaths from the coronavirus pandemic by as much as 50 percent, according to a damning new investigation by state Attorney General Tish James. The state had reported an already grim death toll of about 8,700 since the virus began ravaging nursing homes. In reality, close to 13,000 people connected to the facilities have died, as the state acknowledged later on Thursday. It's a big move for James to push back against the state's top Democrat, whose backing was key to her election in 2018. And it caps a string of bold steps the attorney general has taken recently, including a lawsuit against the NYPD and Mayor Bill de Blasio over their response to racial justice protests last summer. Cuomo has been under fire for his handling of the pandemic at nursing homes, accused of fueling the spread of the virus through a policy requiring nursing homes to accept Covid-positive patients, and hiding the extent of the carnage by failing to release a full death count. While the governor has been quick to dismiss the criticism as partisan, he'll have a harder time doing that this time: the scathing 76-page report comes from a fellow Democrat and usual ally. The bombshell report caught the famously omniscient governor's office a bit by surprise, several sources said. While perhaps not quite a "flaming bag of dog crap left on his doorstep," as one Albany insider described it, the report stokes flames for critics and will give Cuomo — who went as far as to write a book touting his own pandemic response — even more questions to answer. State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt is calling for Health Commissioner Howard Zucker to resign. Democratic Sen. James Skoufis threatened to subpoena Zucker, who is scheduled to testify before the Legislature next month, to compel a full release of the state's data — some of which the commissioner released in a lengthy statement hours after James' report. There may be more shoes left to drop from the AG's probe as well: she released her preliminary findings, but will continue to investigate more than 20 nursing homes that pose a particular concern. IT'S FRIDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: EDurkin@politico.com and agronewold@politico.com, or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold WHERE'S ANDREW? No public schedule available by press time. WHERE'S BILL? Holding a media availability and appearing on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show. ABOVE THE FOLD: Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered a hopeful portrait Thursday night of New York City's future in a hastily-announced speech that was light on details but heavy on promises for the remaining 11 months of his administration. In one of the most ambitious items of his final State of the City address, the mayor unveiled a plan to overhaul the city's streetscape: He would make his pandemic-era "Open Streets" program permanent for pedestrians, cyclists and restaurant patrons and create two-way protected bike lanes on the Brooklyn and Queensboro bridges. "These are the kind of changes that allow us to move out of the era of fossil fuels and the era of the automobile, and into a green future as part of our commitment to the New York City Green New Deal," he said. De Blasio announced a lofty vaccination goal of 5 million residents by June, promised to end small business fines in an effort to retain tenuous private-sector employment and ensured graffiti would be cleaned up by a 10,000-person crew paid for by yet-to-be-determined federal stimulus money. POLITICO's Sally Goldenberg — "New York City's slow transformation away from a vehicle-oriented metropolis will soon get a visible and significant boost: the city plans to close a lane on both the Brooklyn and Queensboro Bridges and reserve them for bicyclists. The new cycling plan for the two East River crossings — called 'Bridges for the People' — was unveiled as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's final State of the City speech on Thursday. The bike lanes are the latest victory for cyclists and transportation advocates who have increasingly pushed Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat in his second term, to chip away at the entrenched car culture that has dominated the city's more than 6,000 miles of streets." New York Times' Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Winnie Hu — The city will officially ban fossil fuel connections in new construction by 2030 , a major step toward phasing out a reliance on gas and oil that other liberal cities have pursued across the nation... The city will first establish intermediate goals for the policy in the short term and work to ensure the ban doesn't negatively impact renters and low-income homeowners... Banning gas hookups in new or renovated buildings is one of the few ways cities can exert local authority to cut greenhouse gas emissions — and New York will now pursue the measure. POLITICO's Danielle Muoio — De Blasio proposed beefing up the authority of the Civilian Complaint Review Board. | | | | TRACK THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: A new president occupies the White House and he is already making changes. What are some of the key moments from Biden's first week in office? Find out in Transition Playbook, our scoop-filled newsletter tracking the appointments, people, and emerging power centers of the first 100 days of the new administration. Subscribe today. | | | | |
|  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "THE CITY COUNCIL passed a landmark bill on Thursday that will more than double the number of street food vendor permits in the five boroughs over the course of a decade. In the 34-13 vote, the council passed legislation that aims to give more people the opportunity to start small businesses and eliminate the underground market for street cart permits, which oftentimes costs street vendors tens of thousands of dollars, significantly more than the $200 the city charges vendors to obtain one. 'This legislation will bring hope and opportunity to hardworking New Yorkers who are immigrants, who have been historically left out of a lot of the government's support,' said Councilwoman Margaret Chin, the primary sponsor of the bill." NY1's Anna Lucente Sterling THE ADMISSIONS TEST for New York City's eight elite high schools is one of the most divisive issues in city education politics and most of the prominent Democratic mayoral candidates are avoiding a clear position . While the high-stakes Specialized High Schools Admissions Test only affects about 30,000 of the city's 1 million students each year, it has become a symbol of the pervasive segregation in city schools: Only 470 Black and Hispanic students were admitted to the schools last year, in contrast with 2,305 Asian students and 1,072 white students. Black and Hispanic students make up about 70 percent of the city's public school population. But attempts in recent years to scrap the test have been met with impassioned and well-organized opposition... So far only three of the ten or so prominent candidates have said they would be willing to scrap the high school test. POLITICO's Madina Touré "COMMUNITY GROUPS will now play a role in the selection of NYPD precinct commanders, Mayor de Blasio announced Thursday. Police precinct community councils will be able to interview candidates who are being considered for those posts under the plan. 'This is unprecedented in the history of the NYPD,' Hizzoner said at his Thursday morning press briefing. De Blasio credited Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams for giving him the idea to include the councils in the hiring process. Adams, who's running for mayor, announced his intention to adopt a similar plan earlier this month." New York Daily News Michael Gartland "IN MORE NORMAL times, Scott Green, a lifelong civil rights activist, may have had a ceremonious funeral followed by a burial in a military cemetery in Little Rock, Ark. Mr. Green was one of the students known as the Lost Class of 1959 at Central High School, where a battle over forced desegregation in Little Rock helped propel the civil rights movement. After he died in April at age 76 with symptoms of Covid-19 in Manhattan, former President Bill Clinton called Mr. Green's family to extend his condolences. "At the time, New York City was experiencing its deadliest stretch of the pandemic; hundreds of deaths per day from the coronavirus were overwhelming city morgues and hospitals, and causing weeks of backlogs at funeral homes and cemeteries. Mr. Green's relatives had difficulty finding a funeral director available to recover his body from the city morgue, and could not give him the funeral they had wanted. With a mixture of reluctance and relief, the Green family decided on a public burial on Hart Island , which would inter his body in one of the mass, unmarked graves dug by city jail inmates and overseen by armed guards. It was a last resort, an expedient, if perfunctory, way to bury loved ones instead of having their bodies languish in refrigerated trucks with scores of others." New York Times' Corey Kilgannon "AS NEW YORKERS struggle to snag a scarce COVID-19 vaccination, government data suggests that city residents have less of a shot at a shot than others in the state and much of the nation. If it were a state, New York City would rank behind 33rd-place Maryland, with just 5.1% of its population injected as of Wednesday, versus 6.4% in the rest of New York State. Since federal stats are slower to be released than local numbers, the five boroughs fall even lower in national rank. New York State currently ranks 16th among the 50 states in the share of its population that has received at least one injection, not counting nursing home residents." The City's Ann Choi and Will Welch FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The 50,000-member New York State Public Employees Federation will endorse Eric Adams for mayor today. Union president Wayne Spence said the Brooklyn borough president has been a longtime ally of the union, which represents a variety of technical workers. He cited Adams' support for SUNY Downstate hospital and his plan to expand the city's earned income tax credit. "We are with Eric now because he has always been there for us," Spence said. | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | PUBLIC DEFENDER groups are threatening to sue Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he does not allow prisoners to get the Covid-19 vaccine. The state has given the green light for correction officers to get the vaccine, but people locked up in state prisons and local jails are not eligible — even as the virus rages inside prisons. In a letter to Cuomo, Legal Aid and other organizations say the restrictions violate the state's legal obligation to protect the safety of people they hold in custody. "This is deliberate indifference: New York has the ability to protect lives, but lacks the political will," the attorneys wrote. POLITICO's Erin Durkin "THE UNION representing thousands of Buffalo teachers said Thursday it would seek legal action to prevent the reopening of city schools on Monday . That announcement from the Buffalo Teachers Federation president, Philip Rumore, came shortly after union leaders met with district officials for two to three hours Thursday afternoon to discuss health and safety concerns being raised at some of the school buildings. While district officials described the meeting as 'productive,' it apparently wasn't enough to pacify the union. Rumore released a three-paragraph statement late Thursday saying the union would proceed with court action, which the long-time union president has been threatening the past couple of weeks as the district draws closer to reopening classrooms for the first time since March." Buffalo News' Jay Rey "NEW YORK's state retirement fund sold off nearly 600,000 shares of video game retailer GameStop since March, leaving it with about 53,000 shares when Reddit-frequenting investors sent its price skyrocketing this week. After closing out 2020 at share price nearing $18.85, GameStop closed on Wednesday at a price per share in excess of $347.50 before dropping to around $240 per share as of mid-Thursday. The sharp increase came as smaller investors discussing strategies on the social media site Reddit drove up its value as a rebuke to hedge funds that were betting against it. New York's Common Retirement Fund, the third-largest public pension system in the country, had owned 647,000 shares at the end of March when the stock was worth $3.50, state records show. But by Wednesday, the state pension fund owned just 52,900 shares, according to the state Comptroller's Office, which manages the retirement system. That means the fund sold off more than 590,000 shares at some point in the last 10 months." USA Today Network's Mario Marroquin — MORE GAMESTOP, MORE TISH: AG James is "reviewing" activity on the stock-trading app Robinhood. — A class-action lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court against trading app Robinhood over its move to restrict the trading of GameStop stocks. "THE SHOW and the money for it, apparently must go on. New York quietly posted a year's worth of film-tax credit spending late Wednesday after the USA TODAY Network New York asked the state why it had not made public the records for more than a year, flouting a state law. The records showed a whopping $465 million was provided to 76 television shows and movies from January through September last year that filmed in the state in recent years — even at a time when the state has delayed or cut funding for other important services, such as aid to local governments and schools. The biggest recipients in 2020 so far: $22.7 million for the fifth season of NBC's The Blacklist and $21.8 million for the second season of Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which was filmed partly at an upstate resort. That the money kept flowing for films and shows despite claims the state is strapped for cash due to the COVID-19 pandemic is a slight to social service programs and other agencies struggling to provide support for those affected by the virus, charged John Kaehny, the executive director of Reinvent Albany, a government watchdog group." USA Today Network's Joseph Spector FOR THE HISTORY BUFFS: Behind the special unit that investigated New York's nursing home deaths from Times Union's Brendon J. Lyons #UpstateAmerica: "Serial restaurateur Matt Baumgartner, who in 2009 opened the first Wolff's Biergarten as part of the renaissance of Albany's warehouse district and grew it over the next seven years to include locations in Schenectady, Syracuse and Troy, is selling the brand." | | | | GET THE SCOOP ON CONGRESS IN 2021 : Get the inside scoop on the Schumer/McConnell dynamic, the new Senate Bipartisan Group, and what is really happening inside the House Democratic Caucus and Republican Conference. From Schumer to Pelosi, McConnell to McCarthy and everyone in between, our new Huddle author Olivia Beavers brings the latest from Capitol Hill with assists from POLITICO's deeply sourced Congress team. Subscribe to Huddle, the indispensable guide to Congress. | | | | |
| | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | "NEW YORK state is looking into whether it's obligated to keep former President Donald Trump's name on a state park on the Westchester-Putnam border. Erik Kulleseid, state commissioner of parks, recreation and historic preservation, told state lawmakers on Wednesday he was 'evaluating' a 2006 agreement that says the park must bear Trump's name in exchange for his donating the property. Kulleseid said the state has used its authority to change park names in the past. He noted he received frequent emails and messages about rebranding Donald J. Trump State Park, but stopped short of saying he supported the renaming effort. When asked, he said his office supports 'a robust debate.' The naming condition was outlined in a two-page 2006 letter from a Trump attorney signed by the then-director of real property for the state parks department. The letter also requires the name to be displayed at each entrance to the property." Journal News' Mark Lungariello | | FROM THE DELEGATION | | "ULTRACONSERVATIVE TEXAS Sen. Ted Cruz suggested Thursday that he and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could team up on a legislative push for stock market reform — and it did not go well . Cruz floated the proposal in response to a tweet from the Bronx-born progressive voicing concern about a Wall Street powerhouse executing a controversial crackdown on trading this week. But Ocasio-Cortez — the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol still fresh on her mind — smacked down Cruz's plea for bipartisanship in a withering string of tweets minutes later. 'You almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out. Happy to work with almost any other GOP that aren't trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign,' Ocasio-Cortez tweeted back at Cruz." New York Daily News' Chris Sommerfeldt | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — The Brooklyn district attorney will dismiss more than 1,000 open cases related to prostitution and loitering, and plans to decline to prosecute future cases on both charges. — The Panel for Education Policy rejected a contract to administer the admissions test for Gifted and Talented programs. — Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, who ran an unsuccessful primary challenge against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, entered the race for city comptroller. — A Brooklyn Democratic district leader who made offensive remarks that prompted a push to boycott the party's mayoral debate has resigned. — An NYPD officer was arrested on child pornography charges and accused of posing as a teenager online to obtain sexually explicit photos and videos from minors. — 'Pardoned Former Congressman Chris Collins Plans Podcast' — Former Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas, who resigned as mayor in 2019 after pleading guilty to misusing campaign money, is looking to make a political comeback by running for city comptroller. — Saratoga County abruptly got some vaccine doses but did not know who to give them to. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Oprah is 67 … Jonathan Fischer … Mary Kate McCarthy ... Aaron Guiterman … Lauren Dezenski … Tom Collamore … Sean Walsh … Henry Ross … Eric Roston MAKING MOVES — Kendall Mitchell is now one of the Biden-Harris administration's newest communications aides in the Office of Public Affairs at the Justice Department. She previously served as the digital press manager and junior spokesperson for Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.). (h/t Huddle) … Dean Hubbard is the new executive director of the Professional Staff Congress. He is a former CUNY professor and organizer with the Amalgamated Transit and Transit Workers Local 100 unions. MEDIAWATCH — Molly Hensley-Clancy will be a sports investigations reporter at WaPo. She currently is a national politics reporter at BuzzFeed. ... Leo Terrell is joining Fox News Media as a contributor. He currently hosts Cumulus Media's "Leo Terrell: America's Fair Minded Civil Rights Attorney" podcast and is a Black-Korean Alliance and EEOC alum. (h/t POLITICO Playbook) DEEP DIVE — "The Accidental Queen: How the late memoirist and reporter Lucette Lagnado found echoes of her own Egyptian exile at a royalist commemoration of the beheading of Louis XVI," by Douglas Feiden in Tablet Magazine | | REAL ESTATE | | "A BROOKLYN SUPREME Court judge partially lifted a temporary restraining order on the Gowanus rezoning Thursday, allowing the city to release the application and full details of the project — although the city is still temporarily barred from starting the clock on the plan's lengthy Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. 'It seems to me since the application is already ready, that should get out there,' said Judge Katherine Levine in a virtual hearing on Jan. 28. The judge said she's ultimately leaning toward allowing certification for the massive land use change, but still wants time to read through hundreds of pages of affidavits that the city and supporters of the rezoning submitted on Jan. 26, before she returns to the court next week." Brooklyn Paper's Kevin Duggan "CONDE NAST is exploring taking office space in New Jersey and reducing its presence in Manhattan as part of a bid to cut costs, according to people familiar with the matter. The magazine publisher, a high-profile tenant at One World Trade Center, is looking for roughly 400,000 square feet (37,161 square meters) of office space split between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is private. Conde Nast, owned by Advance Publications, is struggling as print publications lose advertising revenue. It has about a million square feet of space at One World Trade, some of which it has subleased in recent years after cutting staff." Bloomberg's Natalie Wong "A DEVELOPER IS seeking to demolish a large chunk of a Harlem block, including a row of businesses and Al Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters, according to permits filed with the city this week. Demolition permits were filed Wednesday for much of the eastern side of the block at West 145th Street and Lenox Avenue. That includes the addresses between 106-152 West 145th St., as well as 685 Lenox Ave. A man who answered the phone Thursday at King's Pizza of Harlem, one of the shops whose building may be on the chopping block, said he was unsurprised by the news, since their building at 110 West 145th St. had recently been sold." Patch's Nick Garber
| | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment